Mobile City Council live updates: Drive-thrus, budgets and Baker Street

McDonald's restaurant at 658 Government St., in Mobile, Ala., has dual drive-thru lanes. The feature, while becoming increasingly popular among fast food chains, was not permitted by the city of Mobile's sign ordinance. The Mobile City Council could vote in changes addressing standards for menu boards during its Feb. 11, 2014, meeting. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com)

MOBILE, Alabama -- After last week's fireworks during the Mobile City Council's off-site meeting at the Museum of Art, the council returns this morning to the relatively quiet confines of Government Plaza.

Time will tell how calm the meeting is as the council will meet with a pre-conference session at 9 a.m. following with the regular 10:30 a.m. meeting.

The agenda is fairly light on newsworthy items, though any could trigger discussion. One item that isn't on the agenda, but should likely be updated at some point Tuesday, is the city administration's progress with the fiscal year 2014 budget rewrite. Budget revisions were supposed to be in the administration's hands by the end of last month.

11:34 a.m. - Councilwoman Bess Rich said she wants to table the off-site parking review near colleges and universities until Aug. 12.

11:27 a.m. - Jay Haggerman, manager of the Mobile Civic Center, said he believes the city is meeting its benchmarks with regard to revenue and events at the Saenger Theatre. SMG is managing the theater's operations.

11:12 a.m. - Jerrlyn London, a resident near Ladd Stadium, expressed concerns she had about parking around the stadium during the Senior Bowl. She said that residents were charged a business license to operate the parking. Stimpson said that his administration didn't authorize the charges and will not allow for it. The issue is going to be looked at.

11:03 a.m. - Councilman Richardson, following the comments, said he felt that not much has changed in the past eight years with regard to attracting businesses and that the positive comments show that comments criticizing how the city does business was more politics than anything.

11:01 a.m. - The owner of LA Flowers, 5466 B Old Shell Road, is talking about how great relocating from California to Mobile has been. She said that her experience as a woman's business owner has been positive in Alabama and that regulations and red tape has been no where as bad as it was in Los Angeles.

9:40 a.m. - The city doesn't have an IT director right now. Augustus Bramble withdrew his name from consideration, according to Mayor Sandy Stimpson. Councilman Fred Richardson requested that Stimpson, in the future, provide a notice to council members whenever there is a switch or change with administrative staff appointments. Stimpson said that the administration is looking at candidates for that position.

9:38 a.m. - A draft of the disparity study will be prepared tomorrow.

9:34 a.m. - The Baker Street improvements and the museum contract might be laid over for one week.

9:33 a.m. - A public hearing will be held on March 11 on the Downtown Development District.

9:31 a.m. - Two contracts on the agenda appear poised for approval: $61,128 to retrofit lighting at the History Museum of Mobile and $18,700 for renovations on the second floor at 200 Government St. The history museum's system is described as something needed right now because of an increasing number of false alarms that have been triggered from the existing system.

9:26 a.m. - The council, with no discussion, appears poised to approve a $1.5 million bid to work on Baker Street which, according to City Engineer City Amberger -- is the final piece of the family of Airbus-related projects the city is working on.

9:22 a.m. - Councilwoman Bess Rich said she wants to layover for a period of time, an off-street parking requirement for multi-family developments -- apartments -- near universities and colleges. This ordinance was prompted as a response to parking concerns at The Edge complex.

9:12 a.m. - The drive thru menu board ordinance change appears to have approval. What the ordinance does is allow for dual drive thru lanes and -- by extension, two menu boards. Large fast food chains already have dual menu boards, but they haven't been allowed in the city's ordinance. This change allows for them, excluding areas within the city's historic districts.

9:10 a.m. - Council President Gina Gregory said she felt that last week's meeting at the Museum of Art was a "resounding success" and said that the next offsite council meeting is planned for late spring/early summer in District 3 (Councilman C.J. Small's district).

9:09 a.m. - Good news on Reggie Copeland. He's out of the hospital and doing well.